MightyWriters

The next “Batman” movie will start shooting in 2010 even though Warner Bros. hasn’t officially confirmed a “Dark Knight” follow-up. (National Post)

Author Maurice Sendak couldn’t be more thrilled with Spike Jonze’s adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are,” his classic children’s book.“Jonze impressed me very much,” Sendak said in a short video kicking off Warner Brothers’ Comic-Con 2009 panel on Friday in San Diego. “He’s done it like me. The movie takes nothing but enhances my book. Jonze is not afraid of himself as an artist.” (TV Guide)

Scholastic announced a new publishing deal with cartoonist Jeff Smith to produce new books and stories based on his bestselling epic fantasy adventure series “Bone.” (Publishers Weekly)

Young cartoonist Nate Powell‘s independently published “Swallow Me Whole,” a chilling, bleakly atmospheric tale of two half-siblings trying to fight their way out of mental illness, took top honors in the graphic novel category (Rolling Stone)

The once-fictional Tru Blood beverage from the HBO hit series “True Blood” will be coming to life in bottle form this September. The blood-orange carbonated drink has a slightly tart and lightly sweet flavor that is sure to taste better than the O negative blood consumed by the show’s fictional vampires. (New York Daily News)

Given the choice between reading a book or listening to one, reading is almost always the Mightier choice.

When you read, you see how sentences are put together.

You follow along in the rhythm the writer intended.

Reading teaches you how words work. Reading teaches you how to write.

But there are times when listening to a story is just as good, and a brand new audiobook titled “Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales” is one of those times. That’s because the telling of folktales is an oral tradition.

They’re intended to be heard. And “Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales” will be heard plenty here at Mighty Writers, where few things are valued more than a tall tale.

(Also, look for news in this space of a special Mighty Writers workshop on the life and times of Nelson Mandela, who just turned 91, coming soon.)

“Africa is the oldest spot where we stood up on two feet,” says actress Alfre Woodard, director of the Mandela folktales project. “And since we stood up there’s been the passing on of tales.”

And who better suited to narrate Nelson Mandela’s favorite folktales than those who make their living acting out stories?

Mandela’s folktales are told by a who’s who of Hollywood—including (South African born) Charlize Theron, Forest Whitaker, Matt Damon, Helen Mirren, Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson, among others.

The stories in this collection emanate not just from South Africa, but from Morocco, Kenya, Swaziland and other locations on the continent.

Some of the folktales on the audiobook tell of magic and fantastic animals. Others tell of hardship and life’s hard lessons. But most are sheer fantasy.

One folktale centers on snakes with seven heads. Another features Zulu tricksters. There is a story about a Kenyan lion who teaches a hyena a lesson.

Clearly, not all the folktales in the audio collection are intended to teach a great moral lesson. Many are well told stories that simply depict the sometimes colorful absurdity of life. There’s value in that, too.

Profits from this endeavor support Nelson Mandela’s initiative to provide for children who have been orphaned and made vulnerable by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Los Angeles non-profit Artists for a New South Africa will donate 20-percent of the profits they receive from the New York-based publishing house to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Felicia D. Henderson, a co-producer of “Gossip Girl,” is a professor of screenwriting at UCLA and a former writer for “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Sister, Sister” and “Moesha.”

(“Moesha,” incidentally, which aired from 1996 to 2001, starred Brandy, pictured above, who older Mighty Writers will recall was Kobe Bryant’s Lower Merion High prom date in 1996.)

Now, though, the multi-faceted Henderson is about to plunge into comic book writing as the new writer of “Teen Titans,” a DC comics title.

Henderson: created her own alt-universe.

“I am a long time comic book fan,” Henderson tells CBR, an online comic book website. “I was a sickly child, which meant lots of time on the Asthma inhaler and lots of time in the house while my brothers and sisters played outside. So I created my own alternate universe and comic books helped me do that.”

Henderson says the opportunity to write “Teen Titans” is cool because it combines her strengths: writing for teens, her love of comics and her sci-fi sensibilities.

Teen Titans: chuck full of drama and superheroes.

“I’ve always loved the idea of creating stories about where this realm meets the spiritual-mystical one,” she says. “In other words, I’m in heaven.”

Henderson’s advice to young film and TV writers is simple: read more.

“If you want to write romantic comedies, read every romantic comedy script you can get your hands on… It’s also important to read the classics.”

Henderson says many televisions series and films are simply retelling classic Shakespearean tales.

“But,” she says, “you have to read Shakespeare to know that.”

There’s one very Mighty lesson to be gained in any study of Frank McCourt’s great literary life.

Perseverance.

McCourt’s memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” which detailed his dirt poor Irish upbringing in Limerick and sold more than four-million copies around the world, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996. He was 66 at the time.

Prior to becoming an internationally renowned famous writer, McCourt spent 30 years teaching English and creative writing in the New York public school system.

“Teacher Man,” his 2006 book about those teaching experiences, should be required reading for high school English and writing teachers everywhere.

“The two things I like most of all,” he said when “Teacher Man” was published, “are books and children.”

“When anyone asks me about the Irish character,” the writer Edna O’Brien once said, “I say look at the trees—maimed, stark and misshapen, but ferociously tenacious.”

Words that could describe Frank McCourt’s long and hard—but mightily admirable—road to literary glory.

We knew Woody was Mighty the first time we saw “Toy Story” 14 years ago.

Second, third and fourth time we saw it, too.

Buzz Lightyear—”To infinity and beyond!”—was no slouch either.

You of course remember the story. It all starts when Woody’s owner Andy gets a new action figure for his birthday—the aforementioned space ranger Buzz Lightyear.

Buzz soon replaces the frayed-around-the-edges Woody as Andy’s favorite toy. Woody gets depressed and resentful, and here’s the funny thing: Buzz doesn’t even know he’s a toy!

Oh, you just got to see it again!

At Mighty Writers, we’re all about storytelling whatever the medium (we often pull down our big screen and show film and video clips just to spark conversation) so it’s no wonder we love “Toy Story.”

It’s the “story” part of “Toy Story” that makes us such big fans.

We’re hardly alone.

Animation expert Ellen Besen recently told examiner.com that ‘Toy Story”—and ‘Spirited Away”—were her two favorites because both are “built on strong, coherent themes which speak to children and adults.”

Bensen also believes children can deal with the satiric handling of big issues in animated films like “Toy Story” as long as the storyline is well executed.

“Satire can be an excellent way to engage kids in some surprising discussions,” she says. “I used to enjoy reading the Sunday comics to my daughter and found that in order for her to get the jokes we had to talk about all kinds of interesting things from Biblical references to current affairs.”

“Toy Story” is big fun first, but it can also get you thinking about some pretty big things.

So if you’re looking to rent a movie to pass the time one of these hot summer nights, Mighty Writers recommends “Toy Story” mightily, whatever your age.

In the meantime, check out the following cinematic outtakes from our favorite actors in “Toy Story 2.”

Can these guys make you bust a gut or what?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtSxSxI–a0

“It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.” —Apache proverb

The Mightiness of the American Indian is rooted in dignity.

There is respect for silence, an embrace of minimalism and honor in stories told and passed down.

With so many tribes and customs, the history of the Native American is not an easy one to tell. It may be why the best books on the subject are those that don’t try to cover it all.

Two years ago a writer who grew up on an Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA., wrote a book for young teenagers partly based on his own life. His name is Sherman Alexie and the book is called “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”

The story centers on Arnold Spirit, a “goofy-looking dork” who spends his time drawing cartoons and laughing at anything and nothing with his best pal Rowdy.

And really, who among us can’t relate to that?

Luckily, a teacher comes along and begs Arnold to try to succeed so he can someday leave the reservation. Arnold complies, transfers to a rich white school and becomes both an outcast in his own community and a misfit in his new one.

This requires a good deal of sorting out for Arnold, and a lot of interesting plot twists and turns.

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and was named a Los Angeles Times Favorite Children’s Book and a New York Times Notable Children’s Book.

Now, two years later, the book is back in the news after the parents of students at a suburban Chicago high school protested its inclusion on a summer reading list.

It seems Alexie’s story includes some rough language and some pretty realistic situations and there were some parents who thought their high school-aged kids couldn’t handle it.

Eventually the burned-up parents relented, but not before a committee was formed to review future summer reading choices for their high school offspring.

Boy, could we have a lot to say about all this.

But in light of the very small and quiet summer tribute to the American Indian we’re attempting to fashion here, we’re going to go the route of dignity instead.

But stay very still and you just may hear our Mighty outrage in the silence.